Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Nov 16, 2008

LOT 481

Half Quarter-Repeating Pocket Chronometer Jno. R(oger) Arnold, London, Inv.t et Fecit, No. 2106. The case with London hallmarks for 1811-1812. Extremely fine and equally rare, half quarter-repeating, 18K gold pocket and deck chronometer with Arnold spring detent escapement and ?Z? balance.

CHF 40,000 - 50,000

USD 37,000 - 46,000 / EUR 25,000 - 31,000

C. Three-body, ?consular?, polished, maker?s mark ?WW?, bolt at 11 o?clock to lock the repeating. Fixed gold cuvette with aperture for winding. D. White enamel, the reverse signed ?C+H?, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, large subsidiary seconds. Gold spade hour and minute hands, the blued steel seconds hand secured by a screw.M. 52 mm., matte gilt full plate, ringed cylindrical pillars, 6 holes jeweled with screwed chatons, fusee with chain, Harrison?s maintaining power, Arnold spring detent escapement with brass escape wheel, spring footed-detent with jeweled locking stone, fitted into a slot in the backplate, steel roller with jeweled insert, bimetallic steel and brass ?Z? balance with meantime adjustment screws and temperature adjustment nuts, free-sprung blued steel helical balance spring with terminal curves, ruby endstone, single footed cock, Stogden-type repeating work, repeating the hours, quarters and half-quarters with two hammers on two square section gongs, activated by depressing the pendant. Dial and movement signed. Diam 61 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-24-01

Good

Slightly chipped

HANDS Original

Notes

It is highly unusual, although not unprecedented, for a pocket chronometer of this quality to have repeating work. Any further complications added to a precision watch adversely affect the timekeeping. Consequently, very few chronometers feature repeating. Literature: Once part of the Beyer Collection in Zurich, this chronometer was commented upon by the Antiquarian Horological Society in 1957. See: Swiss Tour, Antiquarian Horology, Vol.II, V. Mercer, December 1957, pp. 82-84. Chronometre de Marine No. 210 et Chronometre de Poche No. 2106 de John Roger Arnold, Adolphe Chapiro, Bulletin Ancaha, No. 93, Spring 2002.
John Roger Arnold (1769-1843) The son of eminent British horologist John Arnold, in 1792 he was apprenticed in Paris to A.-L. Breguet. A member of the Clockmaker's Company in 1796, in 1817 he became Master. In 1830 he entered into partnership with E. J. Dent. Much experimental work was done during this period, particularly on the effects of magnetism on chronometers. In 1840 Dent left Arnold, who continued on his own but died three years later, in February 1843. After Charles Frodsham?s purchase of the business, the company flourished until 1858 as Arnold and Frodsham.
Stogden repeating mechanism Around 1730, a workman for George Graham named Matthew Stogden invented a repeating mechanism different from the one used in most fine English repeaters. In his early years Breguet also used it, though later he used his own system, a modification of Stogden's.